


Overture

by aintweproudriff



Series: IRL 'verse [2]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Crush confessions, Getting Together, Its not that sad, Multi, Polyamory, at least so far, friends to relationship, is this how to write angst?, probably not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-03 00:45:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10956183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: How Jack, David, and Crutchie get together. Takes place before Kings of Queer Prom.





	1. David is Bad at Relationships

**Author's Note:**

> Just like Kings of Queer Prom, this is based on my life. This is…mostly accurate.

The last time someone had told him they liked him, David had responded rather poorly. He had laughed. In his face.   
He hadn't meant to, honestly. He was just taken aback by the idea that a cute boy actually liked a kid like him. From the second he laughed, his relationship with Sam had been doomed. It had lasted two weeks; the whole time, they were both miserable and stressed out. The breakup had been bittersweet when it finally came, sharp and cold like a mercy killing. 

He was totally over that relationship, though, and he was much more mature now. David thought he could handle just about anything.   
And yet, over a year later, he found himself in a similar situation, and he didn't handle it much better. 

He had been sitting in his newspaper class, in a circle with some of his friends, Jack, Crutchie, and Romeo. 

Miss Medda, the supervisor, and Specs, the editor, were discussing what changes should be made to the paper to get it to become more popular. The rest of his classmates were off in little groups, none bigger than six.   
He heard some people chatting about the news, or a tv show, or the latest gossip. From their group, Romeo and Crutchie had started a separate conversation about books that they liked, and Jack was sitting next to him and listening to music while he doodled. 

After a few minutes of listening to Romeo and Crutchie talking, Jack tapped David on the shoulder, and pushed his sketchbook in front of him. 

"Davey," Jack got his attention.   
"Hm? Oh." In front of David laid a beautifully drawn sketch of himself. It was like looking in a mirror, except that any little thing David had ever been self-conscious of seemed to make the drawing more beautiful. His feminine face, his big nose, his eyes; they all added liveliness to the likeness.   
He felt his cheeks turning red, even before Jack spoke up. 

"Uh, Dave," Jack ran a hand through his hair nervously, "um, I," he cleared his throat, and David could see the thought of 'screw it' pass over his face. He leaned back in his chair and pushed the words out. "I really like you."

Off went the bells and sirens in David's mind. They were so loud that all he could think to say was, "Uh, thanks."

Jack showed no expression, which David saw as a maybe positive sign, and plugged in his other earbud.   
"Jus' thought I should tell you," he whispered, emotionless. 

Later, when Romeo and Crutchie were done talking, Jack tapped Crutchie on the shoulder. 

"I did it, finally," he said proudly, waving his hands. "I told David I like him."  
David could see Crutchie's face drop for half a second, but he quickly smiled at Jack. "That's great!"

Crutchie gave David a worried, almost sad look, and David was taken back to a few weeks ago when he was sitting at lunch.   
"I have a massive crush on Jack," Crutchie had confided in David.   
David had laughed and replied, "Yeah, don't we all. He moves so fast though." Crutchie had nodded sadly. 

Romeo smiled at Jack, congratulating him, and then turned to David. He put his hand on David's arm.   
"So are you two a thing now?" Romeo asked.   
"What? Oh, uh, no." David stuttered out.   
"Oh."   
No one said anything for the rest of class. Jack left early, his earbuds still in, blasting a song David thought he recognized. 

 

David ran the scene over and over in his head for the rest of the day. Each time, it looked a little different.   
In one rendition, David was a hot movie star, brushing off Jack's confession with a breezy air. And in another, he was a hot mess of stuttering and blushing and saying the wrong thing. In yet a third, Jack hated him. In the fourth, his apparent rejection of Jack led to the other boy dying of lovesickness.   
No one could say David wasn't creative. 

"The problem," he told Romeo later that day, "is not that I don't like him. In fact, that's not the case at all. That's the opposite of the case."  
Romeo's jaw dropped and he clasped his hands together, but let David continue. 

"There are a lot of problems, actually. The first one is that we're both poly, but I think Jack is a different kind of poly than I am. I want a relationship with one, two, or three other people, who are all dating each other. Jack wants to date as many people as he wants."   
Romeo nodded. 

"That's not a bad thing, really, that's just how he is. And I wouldn't want to limit him, or make him change himself for me."   
David took a deep breath. 

"The second problem is that we move at different speeds. I mean, Jack hangs out with friends pretty much every night. I read for a few hours in my room every night. We're so different. And again, I don't want to limit him, or push myself out of my comfort zone."  
The bell rang. 

"The third and final problem is that Crutchie likes Jack, and I kinda like Crutchie, and Jack might kinda like Crutchie, but Crutchie's not poly," he raced out in one breath. "Ideally, the three of us would date, but I'm not sure that's possible." 

The teacher got up at the front of the classroom, glared at David, and began her lecture. 

Halfway through class, Romeo leaned over and whispered, "You should actually tell Jack all that, not me."  
"I know."


	2. Talking is hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and David talk about trust, and David breaks Jack's trust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short, I promise the next one will be longer and better!

David knew that he needed to talk to Jack, but that was much easier said than done. For hours he crafted and re-crafted the words he was going to say once he saw Jack again.

All kinds of things went through David's mind, ranging from walking up to Jack and kissing him to sitting Jack down and telling him that they shouldn't date.  
There were so many options, none of them right. 

As it turned out, David wouldn't quite get a chance to test any of his ideas, because of Jack himself. After knowing Jack for less than a year, David already understood his moods.  
And when Jack was sad or angry, which usually happens about once a week, he was not to be bothered. If Jack wasn't talking, no one was talking. It had become an unspoken rule of the entire friend group; everyone else's basic happiness came before your own extra happiness. That way, they all were happy together, and they were all sad together. That also meant that if anyonewasn't happy, everyone did everything they could to help, even if that meant shutting up. When the sad person in question was Jack, it was especially important to be quiet so that he could be happy. Jack was the leader, and everyone needed him. Even Race shut up when Jack was sad.  
So when Jack showed up to newspaper class, said nothing, and kept his head down, everyone else did the same. Multiple times during the class, Crutchie looked at David with worry in his eyes. Each time, David gave a sympathetic smile and shrugged.  
Jack left class early that day, and David watched every step he took.

The rest of the day was gloomy. Without Jack's jokes doodles and singing, David's day was noticeably darker. It seems cliché to call it a storm cloud hanging over the school, but the mood in the class fit with that of a torrential rain. 

The next day felt the same, because Jack wasn't at school at all. Still, David thought that he missed Jack more when he was there and quiet than when he was gone.

After school, David came home and pulled his phone out from his backpack. 

Text from: Crutchie  
Text from: Jack

He answered the text from Crutchie first.  
"Heard from Jack?"  
"I just got a text from him, but I haven't checked it yet. I'll text you back when I know what's going on with him."

He opened the text from Jack, thinking that maybe it would quell the anxiety he was feeling.  
"Hey sorry if I made stuff awkward. No pressure."  
"No, you totally didn't make anything awkward, at least for me. Honestly, I'm really glad and honored that you trust me enough to say something."  
He hummed lowly and, going against everything he wanted to say, added another sentence.  
"Even if I don't necessarily feel the same way, I'm really happy we're friends and can feel comfortable saying how we feel."  
Three minutes later, he got a response.  
"Yeah. I've been meaning to tell you for a while. But I kinda figured you don't feel the same. Glad it didn't freak you out though."  
"Yeah, no problem."

David texted Crutchie back.  
"We maaaay have a small problem, Crutch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked it, please leave kudos and comments. To find me on tumblr, go to @javidblue for fanfic and aesthetic, or @spot-and-all-his-cronies for multifandom!


	3. In which David is Less Bad at relationships and talking is Less Hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My boys get their crap together. Finally. Mostly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let Crutchie say fuck 2k17

David should have known Crutchie well enough to know that if he heard that there was a problem, he wouldn't text back. Instead, he would call. 

"David Jacobs, what the fuck did you mean, 'we may have a little problem'?"  
"Crutchie, such language. Chill, it's mostly not a big deal. At least I think."  
"You know very well that I will not chill. Is it about Jack?"  
"Yes."  
"Then it's a big deal to me."  
David blinked at Crutchie's bluntness, but sat down and told the story. 

When he finished, he heard Crutchie take a deep breath.  
"Davey."  
"I know."  
"That was the wrong thing to say."  
"I know."  
"Then why'd you say it?"  
David put his head in his hands. "I hate talking about these things over text. It feels wrong, like I'm hiding. If I'm going to bare all my feelings, I'm going to do it all the way. So I was trying to buy time, to postpone the conversation until a better time."  
Crutchie hummed lowly in understanding. "Well, you've gotta tell him soon then. Tomorrow, right?"  
"Yeah, yeah okay. I'll do it tomorrow," David promised.  
"If that's it, Davey, then I'm gonna-"  
"No, wait. Is it okay if I bring up, uh, your crush on Jack?"  
"Absolutely not. I'd rather be eaten by multiple bears."  
"Oh. Okay, it's just that if you like him then I wouldn't want to be a bad friend and try to take him or something."  
"Davey, don't worry about it," said Crutchie. "Whatever happens, we're still friends. And whatever happens, I'll be fine."  
"Okay. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."  
"Yeah, tomorrow."  
They both hung up. 

David was astonished at how quickly tomorrow could come. Before he knew it, he was in newspaper class again, sitting across from Jack, who had greeted the others but quickly gone back to moping. 

"Jack," David tapped him on the shoulder, and Jack took an earbud out.  
"Yeah?"  
"Can we talk?" David saw Crutchie and Romeo sitting nearby, and shooed them away. Realizing how anxious his question might make Jack, he amended it. "Nothing's wrong, I just want to clarify some stuff I said."  
Jack nodded, promoting him. 

"Okay, there's no other way to say it. I lied to you. By that I mean that I said I don't like you, and I actually do."  
David's hands were sweaty.  
"I said that I don't like you because I knew you might be in a relationship already, and both of us might be poly, but I'm not okay with an open relationship the way you might be. And I said it because we're really different, and I would be scared that we're too different. And I kind of like Crutchie, too, and I wouldn't want to do anything bad to either of you by dating only one of you."  
Jack took David's hand.  
"But I do really like you, Jack. I just needed time to process what happened."  
"What was that? I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last part," Jack said, and put a hand to his ear.  
"I said that I really like you- oh, don't play me right now, Jack Kelly."

Jack smiled, and then his face got more serious. "You don't gotta worry, Davey. Those other guys, the ones I was dating, we're through. I mean, they were mostly distractions anyways. And if you don't like them, then they're out of the picture."

"Okay," David fretted, "but I don't want to make you change yourself for me. If you want more than one significant other, I don't want to limit you or hold you back. If that's what you want then maybe it would be better to not da-"

"You worry too much. Lemme finish."  
David nodded, and Jack continued.  
"You're not making me do anything I don't wanna do," Jack assured him. "And as far as your second problem, I can guarantee that one of the reasons I like you as much as I do is because you're so different from me. I'm louder than you are, and you're smarter than I am. We're good influences on each other. I'm not going to make you do anything you don't wanna do, and you're not going to hold me back, I promise."

This time, David took Jack's hand. 

"And uh, about Crutchie. I'm gonna call him over, is it alright if I tell him you like him?"  
David stammered for a second, unsure.  
"I'm like 99% sure this is going to work out well," Jack added.   
Still skeptical, David nodded. "If you're sure."

"Hey Crutchie!" Jack yelled across the room, receiving a stern glare from Miss Medda.  
Crutchie walked over.  
"Heya Jack. What do you need?" Crutchie took a seat.  
"Well, Crutch, Davey. I really like both of you. I've liked both of you since the first time I met each of you."  
Crutchie's face lit up, and David blushed at Jack's words. They looked at each other happily.  
"And Crutchie," Jack pressed on, "I know you like Davey, and Davey apparently likes both you and me, or so I hear. So I was wondering if you both wanted to go out with me. Like, all three of us in a relationship, I mean."

"Yes!" Crutchie almost screeched. 

David couldn't answer; he was laughing too hard. But he did his best to nod, and he was lucky that Jack and Crutchie understood what he meant. 

Just as the three of them were recovering from giggles and excitement, Romeo walked up.  
"So are you three like, together now?"  
David laughed again, and grabbed Jack's and Crutchie's hands in response. 

 

That night, David got a notification, letting him know that Jack had sent a text to their group chat.  
"So, we should probably go on a real date or two before this… but what do you guys think about going to Queer Prom together?"  
David started to respond, but Jack texted again.  
"Like, as boyfriends. :p"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I hope you liked it, feel free to leave comments and kudos!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! If you liked it, leave kudos and comments, or come talk to me on tumblr. My main tumblr is @hogwartsandspams and my fanfic/aesthetic tumblr is @javidblue


End file.
